I have a little quiet time. Both of the girls are napping, which is a bit unusual. I have a million things I need to be doing, but I’ve decided to update the blog in a more formal way. I don’t know when I will have the chance again.
I was going to post about our work on the barn and moving our chickens there. I don’t know how much time I have and I haven’t uploaded the pictures yet, so I will post about life for me now. This is almost becoming a journal for me. If nothing else, it is a way to keep my family up from afar, and a way for me to keep a record of our life.
After the last five weeks of things being so out of sorts around here, I feel like I’ve fallen into a land of chaos. There is so much to do and so much to be done. Catch my drift? 🙂 I think the ups and downs and the interruptions to our rhythm have fostered in a “stage” with the girls. They are both so very needy right now in different ways. It has caused me to pull back a little to problem solve. Sometimes it is so overwhelming being a mother – meeting everyone’s needs. I’m trying to observe where I am falling short in my keeping up a rhythm that satisfies all of us. That takes thinking about the girls and their needs throughout the day, adding in my goals for things to accomplish, and making sure John is fed and has clean clothes, along with a semi-tidy house. What about time to just be a family?
I have decided to use the Daily Guide I purchased from Little Acorn, but create my own curriculum to go in that. I’m feeling we need something a bit more natural to us and to the age of the girls. I have to find our flow. There are several books that I’m looking to purchase to help me along, and one I have on loan. The loaner is Festivals, Family, and Food by Diana Carey and Judy Large. It is filled with seasonal songs, verses, food, stories, games, and crafts. It has most of the major American holidays and lots of European holidays or those less familiar to us. The others I plan to purchase are:
- Waldorf Education: A Family Guide
- The Children’s Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes
- Stories for Under Five Year Olds
- All Year Around
This is a lot of reading. I am trying to read four books right now. Eli, the Good by Silas House, Heaven on Earth by Sharifa Oppenheimer, Concentration by Ernest Wood, and The Christian Home by the Valley View Mennonite Church. I do a daily Bible study. I am also attempting to enjoy the magazines and journals I subscribe to – Mothering Magazine, Yoga Journal, Appalachian Heritage, and Fugue. Reading the blogs I love as well as exploring the new ones, is another reading goal. Studying up on Kundalini Yoga, keeping up with yahoogroups, Facebook, and email… more reading. Did I mention I’m an information hound?
I’m feeling like I need to pull back from myself. I’m healing and seeking and seeking some more. It’s not a wonder that I am having such difficulty making my mind be still. Again, I recall… “Cease striving and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10. In trying to make things easier and more organized, I’m finding that I am slipping into a need for days to be 72 hours long. I’m becoming more and more tempted to shut it all off for awhile and trying to just listen. Yet, I need to study and prepare myself to teach my children, practice my yoga, and truly understand my spirituality and religious beliefs. What gives? Did I mention that I am still trying to write and submit?
How do I stop this momentum? How do I keep the things of interest and necessity to me to one at a time? I’ve never been good at balancing my life or organizing it. I get things done, but I’m wondering if I am not going about it the hard way. I was gifted in other areas. 😉
In all of this, I see the tremendous blessings in my life. I have the opportunity to learn about whatever I please, and devote as much time as is necessary and good to my family. That is a jewel more precious than any diamond.
9 comments
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November 20, 2009 at 1:42 am
Panaena
I am using the Little Acorn Curriculum along with The Seasons of Joy and things I find on-line with my son. My son is almost 2 1/2 and I am finding that the stories and verses/fingerplays from Seasons of Joy often call to him more then Little Acorn. We have also expand each theme to two weeks (still following the basic rhythm of Little Acorn). I look forward to hearing about the themes you and your daughters develop.
November 22, 2009 at 9:12 pm
eastkentuckygal
I’ve been thinking of stretching our themes out to two weeks too. Another mother told me she loves Seasons of Joy. I’ll have to take a look. Thanks. 🙂
November 20, 2009 at 2:02 am
meorthethoughtofme
“In all of this, I see the tremendous blessings in my life. I have the opportunity to learn about whatever I please, and devote as much time as is necessary and good to my family.”
I just thought this same thing earlier today. I was in the same boat as you, feeling overwhelmed, but grateful that I have the time and opportunity to actually be overwhelmed, if that makes any sense? I do the same thing you do, reading and reading and reading, lol.
I wish I could tell you that I had the perfect answer, but it seems to me that sometimes you just have to let some things go. That one week that I did of reading deprivation. . . after not doing anything for a week, I found that I was much more selective of what I allowed back in. And I’ve started to read just one book at a time, even though it’s soooo hard to do.
November 20, 2009 at 2:16 am
angie
meorthethoughtofme, an information “purge” sounds good. with all the christmas stuff up, I am starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.
Kelli, Festivals, Family and Food can be used as a Waldorf kindergarten curriculum in and of itself. i LOVE the Children’s Year and All Year Round. I don’t think you would need to buy one more book. Those books have been used for YEARS by me…like, over 10 years. They are still relevant.
I can’t believe you are doing so much! Well, yes, I can. I am too busy myself. I get tired of the internet sometimes because of all the information out there and because it pulls me away from keeping house…inner and outer house, know what i mean?
but i need connection too! Balance…breathe…..
November 22, 2009 at 9:15 pm
eastkentuckygal
Thanks so much. I love your wise words. I do need to pull back. It is almost like an addiction you know, learning. I don’t have any friends here that I hang out with, so the internet is my way of keeping myself in things I suppose. I never used to use it so much. I am working on taking so time away, just to experience and learn from life. That seems to be the calling.
November 20, 2009 at 3:20 am
madgebaby
I’m quoting you with attribution as my facebook quote. Your comment really made my day.
“In all of this, I see the tremendous blessings in my life. I have the opportunity to learn about whatever I please, and devote as much time as is necessary and good to my family.”
November 21, 2009 at 12:50 am
Deb in PA
How is Silas House’s new book? It’s on my reading list. I remember doing Five in a Row when my girls were little. It’s a great introduction to literature for preschoolers and early primary grades.
November 21, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Stephanie Broersma
I too struggle with too many interests. A wise friend and mentor once told me, There are many seasons to life. You can’t do everything is this season of life. Some things must wait for another season.
November 22, 2009 at 9:17 pm
eastkentuckygal
Thanks Stephanie. I have thought of this myself. I know a woman who has been a public school teacher, in-home childcare provider, food co-op organizer, artist, and writer, but not all at once. She is inspiring me, and she is still quite young.